We used to make tanks out of cotton reels. They were wooden cotton reels and we would tap a couple of panel pins into the side of the reel and then attach a matchstick and a rubber band, and when wound up that would produce a slow unwinding which would drive the "tank" forward.
Another use was to tap four panel pins into the end of the reel. forming a square round the hole, and to attach an end of wool to one of the pins: we then used a bodkin to feed wool around the the pins in a subtle way and eventually there would appear a woven 'tube' of wool out of the bottom of the reel' hole.
Buen, you seem to have found the 'tank' thing, but it all sounds a bit intellectual, whereas we just did it. The other stuff, whose name I can't remember, remains a mystery to me; I can't remember the way that the loops were manipulated. I should be able to re-create it, but I don't have a cotton reel to hand. Thanks for your help.
Yes, I remember French knitting with the cotton reels. I made a few table mats by spiralling the wooly tubes.
I wanted to show my son how to when he was little but couldn’t remember how it works.
I had my first pen knife when i was about 7. We were on holiday and my Dad used to look after me in Littlehampton while Mum and my big sis went to the shops to get food. We used to go to an arcade that had a sweetshop and a tobacconist and treat outselves. The tobacconist sold pen knives and I had been saving up all year and my Dad let me buy a pen knife! Mum went spare....she would have gone sparer if she had seen the one I wanted to buy but (to dad's relief) I couldn't afford! i still love a good knife
I can remember my first pen knife to, bought from Fred Spencers bicycle and toy shop in our village. It had a Brown handle, light and dark Brown hoops down the handle. Mom also didn't want me to have one but hey Dad said it was okay.